Kentucky Health Justice Network

Our Abortion Support Fund provides case management, appointment navigation, appointment funding, practical support, interpretation, and emotional support. We do this by engaging with an extensive network of volunteers trained to accompany Kentuckians seeking abortion access with radical empathy and solidarity. In 2022 we supported 1600 callers, $130,591 in direct abortion funding, $13,141.78 in transportation assistance, and $13,884.25 in lodging assistance. With Roes overturning, we also established funding relationships with over 35 clinics across the Midwest and South regions, including Illinois, Ohio, Virginia, and North Carolina. Responded to long-distance travel requests and coordinated volunteers to drive our callers to clinics in Chicago, IL; Bloomington, IN; Cincinnati, OH; Asheville, NC; and many other clinics in our region. Onboarded 23 new volunteers to support hotline operations and travel support. Collaborated with Elevated Access Volunteer Pilot Program for the first time to support a private flight to Boulder Abortion Clinic.

Take Root targets those who have the most work to do with the fewest hands and dollars available to support them. Hosting a conference with a reproductive justice framework helps us see the connection between poverty and food access in rural and urban communities, histories of coercive sterilization of people of color, the disparity in impacts of criminalization of drugs and its effects on families, gender self-determination and gender violence, access to contraception, trans health, and medical consent information. In 2022, we held the conference virtually for the third year due to the COVID pandemic. We had 137 registered attendees with our highest-attended virtual session being The Urgency of Reproductive Justice with Dorothy Roberts followed by Maintaining the Anti-Abortion fringe - Ophra Leyser Whalen, Ashley Jacobs, Carol Mason and Shadowbanned: Silencing of Marginalized Voices in Reproductive Justice Spaces We had the highest attendance from the following support organizations, National Network of Abortion Funds, Tampa Bay Abortion Fund, The University of Louisville, and The University of Kentucky Gender & Womens Studies Department.

Our Trans Health Advocacy program works to help Trans Kentuckians access the healthcare they need, as well as reaffirm their autonomy and community. In 2022 we supported 248 Trans Kentuckians with 75 binders, 17 tucking underwear/Gaffs, 11 packers, 9 STPs, 7 Breastforms, 10 Packing/STP underwear/Harnesses, 49 other gender affirming items such as clothing, makeup, wigs, and classes. We also assisted with $486 in copays, $1853.68 in direct gas support, $6,034.24 in emergency housing support, and supported 5 Kentuckians with surgical grants totaling $9,000. We also hosted 11 educational events via Zoom with an average of 22.5 attendees.